2008 #2

One week on from the goal setting extravaganza, it's time for the first exam.

- Two coffee's and two teas at work. I actually failed this by having an extra coffee through absent mindedness on day one, but i've been fine ever since. 95%. Slight Improvement notice.

- No more vending machine visits at work. Lunch has returned to tuna salad, and smaller portions to boot. 100% so far.

- One game of play poker on weekdays. 100%. Even managed 0 games on one day.

- Watching two films a week to get the Blockbuster list down. I've watched three! 100%+. Plus i've finally watched the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I think i'd previously seen episode 3, and half of episode 1.

- Take my camera everywhere with me. Complete failure. I haven't remembered to take it anywhere yet. 0%. Big improvement notice.

- Two new work shirts before the end of January. Well, I haven't done it yet, but it's only the 7th. Technically 0%, but no failure yet.

- Reviewing this list weekly. Okay so far. 100%

- Write a song a month. I have an idea for this month. I'm aiming to flesh it out later this week and this weekend. 20%, but plenty of time to go. I have to decide whether I meant write, or whether I meant write and record. I think at least something must be recorded for anything to qualify as a pass.

- Meet my existing work goals by April. This may be happening automatically. I've certainly accepted a responsibility that will assist in meeting one in the last week, so progress is being made. I'm not going to % all of these - it's pointless.

- I haven't yet spoken to anybody about various potential future roles in the business yet, but I haven't been around these people yet. I may have to squeeze these ones in when I make odd visits to other offices at the moment.

- Making a final decision on whether or not to pursue man management. An interesting conversation I had with my dad this week has pushed me a little back in the direction of management. At the heart of what he was saying, there are more types of man management than managing administrative teams. Good point, and I continue to work towards a decision.

- Committing to exercise. I decided to wait until week 2 on this one specifically to avoid the resolution rush. Here I will firm up the plan. Tomorrow I will swim. On Wednesday I will swim. On Saturday or Sunday I will cycle. I could have swam tonight instead of doing two nights in a row, but it seems i'm doing this...

- Does the type of work I do transfer to other businesses/companies at the same salary? Initial findings indicate that surprisingly, yes, perhaps. Either that or many of the existing skills coupled with a few new ones could get me there. Further research to come.

- No thoughts yet on what work away from a computer screen I might like to try.

- Where would I rather live? Solihull. I'm less impressed with central Birmingham after visiting this weekend. Finding people willing to give me lists of property to rent in Solihull estate agencies seems more difficult than expected. Good job I have this Internet thing.

- Not letting weeks pass without contacting friends. So far so good - had a meet up with a few at the weekend. This did sound like a bit of a loser's goal but I can recall quiet periods in the past where life became work, home and computer. That's all i'm trying to avoid. That and losing friends of course.

So far I think i'm doing reasonably. I hope I won't go into this detail every week - it's really not necessary. Hopefully when I write next week i'll have been swimming a few times. Can't see why I wouldn't have...